Recently my purse was stolen. My SS card was among the things in it. So along with all the other places, agencies, credit bureaus, etc., one has to notify, I went to Social Security to notify them of the stolen card and to obtain a replacement.
I went there within a couple of days of the incident after I obtained a temporary driver's license for ID. SS would not accept it. They only want an "original." I had to wait a couple of weeks for the replacement to arrive.
Finally I was able to go back to SS today. When talking the man (am I allowed to use "man" anymore?) who helped me, I asked if they could tell if someone had used my SSN fraudulently since I had to wait nearly a month to actually get SS to address it. He showed me his computer screen and pointed out my annual income history. He said the only way they could tell if there was fraudulent activity would be if my income suddenly went way up above what my regular income was.
In other words, if the system depends on someone randomly noticing that a person's income has gone up dramatically, then they don't have any security, tracking, oversight, etc. over social security numbers. No wonder they are so easy to steal and use for illicit purposes.
FALSE.
Every penny that comes in to SS under your SS also has the SOURCE of that income. I.E. You work at company A. And ONLY company A. If there is any SS money that comes in from anything other than company A.... someone else is using your SS.
In his defense, unless you have them look at your payment/income history having given them the info on where you have worked, they would not be able to tell easily that your SS was being used illegally.